Ellis Names 25 Player Roster to Face New Zealand

Fresh off of leading the U.S. WNT to its 10th Algarve Cup championship, coach Jill Ellis has named a 25 player roster to face New Zealand April 4, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Wambach will not play club soccer this season.(ISI Photos/Brad Smith)

Ellis has kept faith with the same 25 players that triumphed last week in Portugal, including star striker Abby Wambach. The former Western New York Flash forward is listed as unattached on the roster released by U.S. Soccer, just days after announcing that she would forgo the NWSL season to concentrate on the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

The Algarve Cup has long been seen as a pleasant way for the U.S. WNT to start the calendar year, a low key bit of fun in the sun, on the way to collecting another honor to jam into the team’s bulging trophy case.

But 2014 changed all of that, as the Americans finished a historically bad seventh in the Algarve Cup, a result that led to the firing of Ellis’ predecessor, Tom Sermanni.

The USWNT training during the Algarve Cup. (ISI Photos/Brad Smith)

By selecting the same roster that won the Algarve Cup for this match against New Zealand, Ellis would appear to have settled on her top 25, with the 2015 Women’s World Cup coming up this summer in Canada.

Ellis will likely use the Send Off Series games against New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, and South Korea to finalize her starting lineup and top substitutes for Canada 2015, running from June 6 through July 5.